police say there's nothing funny about it. and an unexpected lighter moment during the debate last night. how big bird stole the spotlight. good afternoon, everybody. i'm jim handly. >> i'm pat lawson muse. first up tonight, a beautiful landmark with an ugly problem. dozens of workers are down on the national mall today trying to solve an algae problem at the newly renovated reflecting pool. >> they're using all sorts of high-powered equipment to clean up the spot. it's proving to be a much bigger task than anyone imagined. >> it's slippery when you walk on it. but it sticks to the bottom of the shovel. >> reporter: the last thing the national park service wanted to do after the $34 million renovation to the reflecting pool. tack on another $100,000 service to the invoice. >> it's frustrating. we did not expect to have to do this so quickly. but this is a maintenance problem. >> reporter: after an ongoing

battle with the severe algae problem, they took the advice of an aquatic geologist and drained the pool. >> probably another day or two before we get everything out. our company has five or six guys, and 100 of the free lance companies. >> we came here to see, and we are very, yeah, disappointed. >> reporter: it will take contractors a few days to clean and then refill the reflecting pool, but this time they will increase the ozone level in the water, a technique commonly used to fight algae buildup. >> we're not quite sure how much ozone to inject into the water. we started out at one level, we've more than doubled that level and we think we've got it right. >> it's still gorgeous. i mean, it's still just -- i can't believe i'm here. >> reporter: the national park service said they'll use a high-tech filtration system, so once they get the reflecting pool filled back up, they shouldn't have any more problems.

the government is warning doctors to avoid all products from that massachusetts pharmacy linked to a fungal meningitis outbreak, this after a fifth person has died. the latest victim died in tennessee, making three deaths in that state so far. there have also been deaths reported in maryland and in virginia. at least 30 people have been sickened in six states, all of them got tainted steroid injections for back pain. they believe it was caused by a common fungus found in leaf mold. it is not contagious. nats fans will not have to pay extra after all. the d.c. taxi cab commission initially approved a $1 fee for each additional passenger on trips to and from the ballpark. after pressure from mayor gray, the commission dropped that plan. tom sherwood will be here to say they're still not sure the city is ready for the play-off clouds. dramatic changes on the way.

>> let's go to meteorologist veronica johnson for your first forecast. how about it, v.j.? >> dramatic change is not the sunshine we're seeing, but it certainly is nice to see, right? after having more clouds than over the last couple of days. nice sunshine right now, as finally this weather front has moved on through here and east of us. let me take you back to this morning at 10:00. we had a few light showers across the area. here we sit at shortly after 4:00. there you can see the line of clouds, still hanging on to arundel county and areas of stafford county. mostly clear behind it. temperatures are still hanging on in the upper 70s most locations. 75 in bethesda and ashton. oakton coming in at 79 degrees. your good night forecast, decreasing clouds, clearing out and temperatures will drop to the mid and upper 60s by 11:00 p.m. what is that dramatic change we're going to see? i'll tell you about it coming

up. >> veronica, thank you. to the presidential race and some saying it was a big shot in the arm for the romney campaign. the first debate is history. there are two more to go and five weeks until election day. the candidates are on the move. steve handelsman is live in denver. >> reporter: good evening from denver, colorado, where this is the headline, in the biggest paper in denver. the only the statewide paper in colorado. i spoke to democrats in this battleground state today. they don't dispute this. they're disappointed, but many feel they're still hopeful because they figure mitt romney's still got a ways to win in this state, and nationwide, even though his effort looks back on track. republican joy in denver, mitt romney declared his campaign is rejuvenated. >> you know what, we're going to take back the white house. >> reporter: a new mood after many saw a new mitt romney last night. >> let's get back to medicare. the president said that the

government can provide the service at lower cost and without a profit. >> reporter: in control, assertive, presidential. while barack obama kept his eyes and his energy low. >> it's very rare that stylistically there's such a clear triumph of one side over the other. >> reporter: a rally in denver, the president admitted he got surprised. >> when i got onto the stage, i met this very spirited fellow who claimed to be mitt romney. >> reporter: he charged romney changed his stance on taxes and spending. >> but if you want to be president, you owe the american people the truth. >> reporter: some felt mr. obama owed them a better debate. >> he looked like he was tired, drained. >> i think he didn't have the practice. >> you more worried obama might lose now? >> well, no, not really. >> reporter: obama strategists hint the boss learned a lesson. >> he'll review it and if he wants to make some changes in

the next debate, he'll do so. >> reporter: romney strategists claim all that changed about their guy was the audience. >> i think people saw him for the first time, a lot of people, not in a 30-second attack ad or 12-second snippet on the news. but got to hear him directly. >> reporter: romney's hoping the debate strengthens his poll numbers in battleground states. tomorrow there's a new factor, a jobs report expected to help president obama, by showing fewer layoffs. live from denver, steve handelsman, news4. more now on the continuing coverage of that first presidential debate. nbc news senior political editor mark murray joins us now with new analysis of last night's big debate. >> mark, instant polling and survey say they thought romney won the debate, and the president didn't help himself. do you agree with that? >> i pretty much do agree. look at the body lang raj from the campaign, obama was trying

to do a little bit of cleanup. when you have to do that, you end up getting the better of the debate performance. i was surprised in a way that president obama's initial level was a bit down. mitt romney was concise. he was assertive. we had seen all those things during the republican primary season. i wasn't surprised about that, but was surprised president obama didn't have the energy level to meet it. >> we had mentioned the surveys that have come out. and most people who watched it seemed to think that romney won. steve handelsman showed us that headline. when does that translate, or does it translate in the polling? >> that's the great question. we haven't seen ygreat surveys. some folks believe this electorate is locked in there. then again, this could end up having some type of change. i would just warn people a little bit, that sometimes you end up having this one debate, we saw george w. bush lose his first debate in 2004.

we saw ronald reagan lose his debate against walter mondale in 1984, and those two were able to win the election. >> was this as chris christie said today, a wipeout or give the president a new opening? >> it gives him a potential new opening. the biggest thing we're going to see, and we won't be sure about the poll numbers to reflect this, this allows mitt romney to go on the offensive. over the last month mitt romney has been on the defensive, whether the controversial 47% comment, clint eastwood's dialogue with the empty chair at the convention. these presidential races go up and down, up and down, and i think we'll see more twists and turns during election day. >> a lighter moment. we saw big bird come up. and got a few chuckles. mitt romney was detailing cuts that he might make. let's listen in to a little bit from last night, if we can. >> i'm sorry, jim, i'm going to

stop this subsidy to pbs. i actually like big bird, and like you, too. i'm not going to continue to spend money from china to pay for it. >> someone even created a twitter handle, fire big bird. >> i think that resonated because big bird was a big part of my life, as probably a lot of people out there, and a lot of people associate with it. one little thing to note, nbc has done some reporting, the amount of money the pbs gets from the federal government is only about $100 million or so, which is a drop in the bucket to the trillions that are in the federal budget. so getting rid of big bird doesn't really solve the deficit problem. >> too bad 4-year-olds can't vote. >> fire big bird, my goodness. a lot of people talked about the candidates and how they did. but what about the moderator? jim lehrer pretty much faded into the background. should he have taken greater control of this debate?

>> it's very hard to moderate a presidential debate. sometimes you do want to be that person who kind of fades away. you want to let the candidates be the main actors, not sometime the person in the media. but on the other hand, there were some questions on whether he could have been more assertive or not. these are tricky things. of course, i think at the end of the day more people are paying attention to what president obama and mitt romney had to say rather than the moderator. >> town hall format, they're already coming into virginia, the romney campaign is coming in tonight, the president next week. >> and you're going to have vice president joe biden before that debate and paul ryan debate in kentucky. that's going to be interesting. there's a little pressure on joe biden to see if he can rough up the republicans the way that president obama seemed to get a little roughed up last night. >> it's going to be more important now than last night. >> i think so. >> mark murray, thanks so much for coming over. we appreciate it. a hollywood couple with a turbulent past coming up, has

chris brown dumped his girlfriend so he can reunite with rihanna? is britney spears being censured in her own home? even her internet use is monitored. a criminal takes aim at his own lawyer in a

nicole kidman on her relationship with katie holmes. >> chris brown and rihanna together again, that's a question mark. joining us with the latest hollywood headlines, cohost with the russ parr daytime show. georgia, celebrity watchers across the big apple have been tracking down chris and rihanna for a while now. now we're hearing that chris brown has broken up with his girlfriend. >> sooner or later he would have to release a statement. chris brown and rihanna were at a new york hot spot holed up in

a restaurant together, making sure nobody came in. they were at ji-z's concert. somebody tweeted a picture all over the internet last night hugging and kissing and looking very together. then the two were seen leaving a hotel together. staying at the same hotel, leaving the same hotel. then there were the tweets between chris brown and his girlfriend. why tweet for everybody in the world to see. but i'm not a celebrity. >> there's also the telephone. >> but she basically bid him farewell and said, i like men, not boys. i can't make you happy, i can't guarantee your happiness. and he said, i'm choosing to be single because i don't want to hurt my friendship with rihanna. >> maybe she's better off. >> probably. because i think he and rihanna have been seeing each other for a while. >> and a lot of people don't understand that. >> a lot of people are upset about it. >> seems britney spears handler are keeping her on a very short leash. what's with that?

>> imagine being 30 and on phone restriction. you can't use the internet and you're 30 years old and made over $50 million last year. supposedly her fiance and father are coconservators in her estate. they want to make sure her father doesn't get in touch with her, try to call her or tweet. or check her out on facebook and write something bad that could be disastrous for this lawsuit. >> interesting. and are tom cruise's exes having powwows? what's this all about? >> if you believe nicole kidman, the answer is no. rumors are that kidman helped holmes get this done, and she said, no, i never helped katie holmes. she said, you know, they just got married really young and really fast. but it was a great decade and i got two kids out of it, and i wish katie and tom well separately. >> that's that.

>> that's that. >> leann rhymes is out of re happen and we're hearing from her for the first time. >> she's basically saying she went in for emotional stress. she's like twitter, facebook, magazines, they talk about you, say these things about you. they make you crazy. people say they don't, but they do. i'm human it, i see it and it does affect me. something odd she said is that she likes going to rehab, which makes me think she'll go again. but she likes for a third party to -- >> who likes rehab. made a lot of friends there or something. >> maybe so. >> forbes has a new list of top paid women in hollywood. >> they're going to have to do the lowest paid women in broadcasting so i can finally make the list. oprah winfrey said own didn't do so well that last. she made $165 million last year. that's a lot. coming in at number two, britney spears, she can't use her phone but making a lot of cash.

taylor swift behind her. rihanna and ellen degeneres tied. >> all names we keep talking about. what do you have coming up tomorrow? >> we have tickets to go see c lo in vegas. >> are we eligible? >> no. >> i didn't think so. >> see that maus? just a little pause. >> thanks, georgia. >> we'll listen in tomorrow morning. >> please do. let's take a look at the weather now. >> we've got a chance to clear out today, right? and most folks today were saying how, you know what, i was a little uncomfortable with the humidity, the warmth. well, at least tomorrow we're going to have mild temperatures around here with less humid air. we're at 80 degrees right now under a partly sunny sky. wind out of the northwest at 12. a little late afternoon and evening breeze will come your way. from montgomery county down through stafford county, upper 70s. right at 80 degrees in

annapolis, maryland. and 81 currently in manassas. as far as the rain goes, we had it this morning, we had a lot of clouds, even a little bit of patchy fog. here we are clearing out. you can see the weather front moving through with clouds still far to the east, i-95 and east. and just a few clouds left behind. that system as high pressure moves in. i'm focusing already on the next weather front. why? because it's going to be a pretty significant one. clouds are stretched out from wisconsin, down toward oklahoma. behind the system, look at that, temperatures in the 40s. upper 40s. this is some cold air from canada that will be coming in. and behind that, there's even been some snow, the first of the season in north dakota as well as in minnesota. we're going to watch that chilly air make its move for saturday. it will get down into ohio, kentucky and arkansas. and by sunday, it's right over us. and it's going to set up throughout the mid-atlantic states for most of next week. as far as our sky cover goes, continued clearing here as we

step into tomorrow morning. quite a bit of sunshine on tap for tomorrow. nothing but sunshine, gorgeous day and quite comfortable. and then for saturday, the weather front gets right in on us. partly cloudy sky. light showers could fall at any time, even a possible shower in the morning. and then on sunday, when that system stalls out, look for actual rain around the area. it's going to come in saturday night, here's sunday at 11:00 a.m. widespread rain. maybe even some pockets of moderate rain for sunday. 63 to 70 your forecast for the evening. a little breezy as we continue clearing out. for tomorrow morning, we'll be a little on the cool side. 52 to 60 degrees. we started out today about 65 to 70. here's a look at your high temperature for tomorrow. sunny, mild and nice. and it's a friday, too. 78 to 83 degrees. here's a look at your four-day

forecast. better chance for actual rain on sunday. so start making those plans for the real november type air that's going to move in. >> all righty. thanks, veronica. off to the races. we put teddy to the test to see if his big win at nats park was just a fluke. also, you've got to see this story. a large curious bird has drivers putting on their brakes. why this emu was on the highway in the first place. jumping for their lives, watch as the family leaps from a burning apartment to the ground below.

you're showing off your nat-itude. we asked for pictures of the biggest nats fans in our region and you responded in a big way. >> it's not too late to get in on the fun. send us your photos of your kids, your pets, even yourself, all decked out in nats colors, and we may use those pictures on the air on nbcwashington.com.

you can also send your photos to natspics@nbcwashington.com. >> we saw a lot of the big hats on the babies. >> cute pictures. as you've no doubt seen and heard by now, after six long years and 539 tries, teddy has finally won. he won the presidents race at the nats final game of the regular season. >> but we decided that teddy needed an extra test. just to make sure his first win was legit. he stopped by here at the nbc 4 studios this morning to race our fitness guru steve hayes. keith russell has the play by play. >> reporter: was yesterday a fluke? >> absolutely not. it wasn't a fluke. you weren't aided in the win. nobody gave you an unfair advantage. teddy, meet our fitness guru, steve hayes. look at those guns, teddy. teddy, look at that massive

bicep. teddy, we need to provide the folks some proof, definitive proof that yesterday was no fluke. that george washington and thomas jefferson will never win a race again. it took teddy over 500 tries but finally he persevered. >> teddy looks like he's in great shape. look at this frame right here. this is the frame of an athlete. super athlete, right, teddy? want to take a sprint around? one more sprint, you and i. >> he said you're going down. that wasn't sportsmanship, he said you're going down, steve. are you ready, steve? >> i'm ready. >> are you ready, teddy? teddy's like, no sweat. one, two, three. >> let's go, teddy. >> it's neck and neck right now. neck and neck. teddy will not be denied.

come on, teddy, down the stretch. just like you did yesterday. come on, teddy. i think that was a photo finish. >> teddy's been working out. think about it, that's a good 120 meters that he sprint. and i'm telling you, that's not exactly no weight on him that he's carrying around. >> teddy, tell abe, thomas jefferson, it's your world now. it's the nationals world. teddy, we're going all the way, and you're going all the way. thank you, teddy. thank you for inspiring the nation. and thank you for inspiring the nationals. >> as steve said, that's a lot to haul around when you're running. >> no doubt about it. he's a winner. it's been verified. police say this was no laughing matter. coming up, ashton kutcher becomes the victim of a dangerous prank. plus, how thieves were able

to steal $127,000 worth of jewelry from actress julianne moore. and an unusual new service, how you can pay to be facebook famous.

and welcome back to news4 at 4:00. i'm pat lawson muse. >> and i'm jim handly. ashton kutcher is well known for punking celebrities. yesterday he became the target of a very dangerous prank himself. >> as lolita lopez reports, it's called swatting, and police say there's nothing funny about it. >> reporter: there was some movement in and out of the hollywood homes of ashton kutcher, much different than hours earlier when police

swarmed the actor's home. the lapd responded to a possible hostage situation and shots fired from inside the house. >> we get to the scene, and apparently discovered that it was a hoax. around the same time, the assistant of the owner of the residence met police officers and advised us that all the people that were in the house were employees. >> reporter: initially treated as persons of interest, the employees were cleared in the investigation into the prank, known as swatting began. that's when they're tricked into dispatching officers to a crime in progress. th >> definitely a waste of resources. quite a few resources. i'm sure that's not going to make our taxpayers happy. >> reporter: while the numbers are not official, lapd estimates the cost of the kutcher event is between $10,000 to $15,000. >> we'll somehow track and find out who this person is and bring them into custody. >> that was lolita lopez

reporting. kutcher was not home at the time. incident. he later tweeted he was on the set of his show and that he's doing just fine. in california, making a false call to 911 can lead to jail time and fines. we started out with a muggy morning. but it got a little better. >> veronica? >> that it did. now we're clearing out across the area. we've got a partly sunny sky. east of i-95, areas west, mostly clear. so it's looking brighter. and finally here at the end of the week, some great weather will be awaiting us. temperatures throughout the area, 77 degrees up to the north. in rockville, maryland. 76 degrees over in fairfax county there. and 77 in camp springs. fort belvoir coming in at 79. and here's a look at your forecast through the morning for rockville, maryland. there we're going to have just a few clouds that will hang out

until about 10:00 or 11:00 p.m. temperature drops from 78 to 75 degrees. and by tomorrow morning, sunshine. it's going to be a really nice day from beginning to end tomorrow. and then the part that we don't like. the fact that we're going to see a transition this weekend. saturday not too bad. but sunday is looking rather ugly. and it may feel a little ugly, or at least a big shock to the system for many people. courtroom chaos led to an extra six months in jail for a defendant in south carolina. take a look at this video, which has gone viral. 30-year-old lamarcus williamson punched his public defender in the face while handcuffed yesterday. this happened after the judge sentenced williamson to 15 years in prison without parole for robbery. williamson accused his lawyer of incriminating him. the attorney told a local paper he's sore, but he's fine.

a philadelphia police officer will be fired after he was caught on tape punching a woman in the face during an arrest. the video was taken this weekend. it shows someone throwing something at a group of officers. the officer in the white shirt grabs a woman and punches her in the face before arresting her. police say her charge of wrongful conduct will be dropped. here's a look at some of the dogs found this week in the dallas area. most of them are cavalier king spaniels. the day before the humane society took in these pups, 51 mixed maltese dogs were found dumped on another road. animal officials think the dogs likely came from a puppy mill operation that shut down. the dogs will be put up for adoption. well, facebook has found a new way to make money, not from advertisers, but from you. it's rolling out a new feature now to let you promote your

facebook posts. basically you pay a fee to make sure your post stays at the top of your friends' news feeds. for example, if you wanted to promote a garage sale, the feature is optional but could cost you up to $7 per post. facebook said it will not charge subscription fees and the site itself will always remain free. that's good news for facebook users who reached a new milestone this month. 1 billion people logged onto facebook each and every month. that's an all-time high, and double what it was just two years ago. ceo mark zuckerberg talked about the milestone with matt lauer on the "today" show. >> there's no way that when we were getting started with this, that i would have ever thought me or anybody around me would be a part of this. it's incredible. >> zuckerberg acknowledged his company has gone through a difficult patch since his ipo earlier this year. he said he's working really hard

to boost confidence among investors. a leap of faith that was caught on video. still to come today, a family jumps from a burning apartment. the desperate decision that saved their lives. also, traffic brought to a stand still because of a five-foot bird. what this emu was trying to find

time to check out the deals of the day. >> first up on living social today, a half-priced deal to pick your open fruits and vegetables at rock hill orchard. you can fill your basket with your choice of apples, berries, fruits and veggies, if you use this deal on saturday or sunday you'll also get a hay ride to an apple orchard. >> that sounds like fun. and on groupon with halloween approaching, spend $15 for a ticket to the national museum in northwest washington. you can buy up to four tickets per person to the fright at the museum dead man walking exhibit. there are three days left to

grab this haunting deal. and you can use it the evenings of october 19th, 20th, or 25th. an update on a story that struck a nerve with many people. coming up, a viewer's new challenge for a news anchor who called him a bully. and we're almost there. veronica's looking ahead to the weekend.

don't get too excited. veronica is talking about snow. >> right. and one strong front that is going to be moving through our area on sunday. how strong is that front? strong enough to produce snow, and that means, of course, air that's cold enough. so let me take you to the northern plains. in fact, fargo, north dakota here, where they had snow, this is how they woke up this morning with moderate and heavy snow hitting the area. of course, yeah, the kids love it. but it did cause some travel

delays. in fact, some power outages around the area as well. meanwhile, they'll get probably around 12 inches of snow in extreme areas north and east there of fargo, and areas of northwest minnesota. that is what they are expecting there. again, that's with a front that's going to come through this area on sunday. so let me show you storm team 4 radar. that front here, still some spin and moisture left behind, so it's not really a big area, but enough to produce snow and cause troubles across northwest minnesota. that front, again, temperatures behind it, in the 40s right now. and temperatures will be dropping off into the 30s there during the overnight, arriving here on sunday. so big-time cooldown, and dramatic change for the second half of the weekend. 80 degrees right now under mostly sunny skies. a little breezy, too, northwest winds at 12, coming in behind today's weather front. we'll have temperatures starting out tomorrow morning at 53 in frederick, 60 in d.c., starting out 59 around la plata, waldorf

and stafford starting at 58 degrees. under a clear sky, or i should say clear at least by late morning for most. might be a little bit of patchy fog. not expecting a whole lot, because i really think that the winds are going to hang at about 5 miles per hour for the early night and early part of the day. 83 degrees, mild conditions are expected. a gorgeous day is coming up for your friday, as we wrap up the work week. here's a look at your weekend. 30% chance of showers on saturday. that could come anytime during the day. but the emphasis is on the fact that these showers will be very light and very scattered. so not everyone is going to see those drops of rain on saturday. the high 76. 59 degrees for sunday. i do think that everyone gets wet on sunday with more widespread rain and at times even moderate and heavy. next week, just about all of next week we'll have temperatures in the 60s. so i will not be wearing anything like this next week. >> all right.

get the shovel. not really. thanks, veronica. police in florida gave chase to a very unusual suspect during yesterday morning's rush hour. his name is taco and as dan reports, the 5-foot-tall bird was looking for love in all the wrong places. >> reporter: taco is a 4-year-old emu, a 5-foot tall flightless australian bird out looking for a mate, according to his owner. taco isn't one to be particular. motorcycles seemed to draw his interest. imagine being this guy, pulled over on the way to work by a giant bird. maybe he'll wear his helmet from now on. >> it's odd. it's not something that we see every day. i think our guys did a really good job on trying to contain the bird. >> reporter: taco was interested in everything and everyone. and deputies at first had no idea what to do with him. they sort of tried to herd him off the road using patrol cars. not a chance. another motorcycle arrived.

that, too, was a mistake. taco wanted a kiss. and high-stepping across the highway, he seemed as free as -- well, as a bird. >> it's a very large bird. at the time of the incident, folks are trying to get to work. we have school buses going around. so it became a traffic hazard. >> reporter: taco it turns out lives in a suburban backyard. his owner didn't answer the bell but reportedly said the bird's antics are because of mating season. taco sat contemplating his big morning. he might not have found a mate burks he apparently had a very good time anyway. >> out and about. deputies eventually found taco's owner on the beach. he was able to corral the bird into his truck and take him home. just another day for taco. >> just didn't want to be cooped up anymore. >> that's a big bird. speaking of big birds today -- >> still to come, a jewel heist worth $127,000. still ahead, how thieves might

have gotten into the home of julianne moore. plus, a news anchor fought back against a viewer who criticized her weight. now her critic is making a new offer. coming up next on news4 at 5:00, breaking news. the impact of the meningitis outbreak continues to grow. maryland health officials have just wrapped up a news conference about the scope of this health scare. we're going to have a live report. a teaching strategy that's getting remarkable results. we go inside the classroom of the teacher of the year to see his unconventional philosophy that is helping kids succeed. at 6:00, a protest at the vatican has stretched on four hours. we'll show you how it finally came to

several pricey baubles gone, actress julianne moore had

$127,000 worth of jewelry stolen from her brownstone in new york. it's believed the robbery happened sometime over the summer. when the house was being renovated and dozens of construction workers and others had access to the home. a necklace, bracelets and watches are all missing. so far, no arrests. that man who criticized a wisconsin news anchor for being overweight isn't backing down. kenneth krause is standing by his original e-mail to jennifer livingston saying she wasn't a proper role model for young girls in the community. in a statement, krause said he would be happy to help livingston lose weight. she has offered to have him on her show but he declined. those would be high ratings, i would imagine. up next, a life-and-death decision caught on video. the family jumps to escape flames consuming their apartment. be sure to follow news4 online, just search nbc washington on facebook and

twitter.

the flames were spreading fast. and there was only one getting out of a burning apartment building in new jersey. six members of one family jumped from a third-floor window.

as brian thompson reports, neighbors rushed in to help the family. >> i was scared. >> reporter: 6-year-old tannia martin could barely describe what happened. her oldest sister made the first jump. she screams for help. then sees passersby and asks them to save her family. >> i wasn't thinking of that. >> reporter: but her sister made the second jump. the camera shaking each time as they hit the awning right above it. it started about 12:30 a.m., a candle left burning as pg&e had yet to turn the power on in their brand-new home. their mother. >> i kept waking up and i'm coughing. i just woke up. and when i woke up, i didn't see nothing but smoke. >> reporter: but the oldest daughter who broke her toes when she hit the ground in the first jump was the first to make the daring leap. >> i was so scared. i don't even know. i thought if i fall, that's

okay. >> reporter: now with passersby gathered, they came down one by one, first hitting the awning and shaking the camera, then being caught. the 9-year-old -- >> i was afraid at first, because i didn't think anybody would catch me. >> reporter: finally came the last two, including their mother. but it was the first jump that turned this girl into a hero. >> i'm going to help my family. >> all six members of the family were treated at a hospital and released. everyone is going to be just fine. now at 5:00, a growing outbreak here, meningitis claims lives in maryland and virginia. a health scare spanning six states, including maryland and virginia tonight. there was word from health officials that hundreds of maryland residents may have been exposed to meningitis. a news4 exclusive tonight, big changes coming to d.c. fire employees' schedules and it could impact who responds when you have anemergency. and good evening. i'm wendy rieger. >> i'm jim handly.

we begin with the breaking news, a deadly meningitis outbreak is growing. now hundreds of patients in maryland are being warned they may have received a tainted drug. >> that comes as a fifth victim has died in tennessee. one patient in virginia, and one in maryland have also died. richard jordan is live in baltimore, where state health officials have just released a list of clinics that received this medicine. >> reporter: wendy, nine facilities in maryland and virginia are now being investigated. part of this growing concern about a meningitis outbreak. there are seven maryland facilities that receive these potentially contaminated steroid injections. two in virginia. right now, the doctors are warning people, if they received a steroid injection within the past two months from any of these facilities now in question, they need to go to a doctor and get checked out as soon as possible. this has all been